EL SEGUNDO, CA — As they reminisce about their team, hockey fans generally remember the skilled, offensively gifted players, the star netminders, or the heavyweight enforcers.

They also remember players who are memorable for the wrong reasons. But rarely do they remember the guys in the trenches, the unsung heroes who do a lot of the dirty work, making things possible for the skilled players, but go mostly unnoticed.

The same applies to the Los Angeles Kings, as their fans easily remember stars like Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Marcel Dionne, Rogie Vachon and Rob Blake.

They also remember the players who were memorable for their sheer ineptitude, like Troy Crowder and Barry Potomski, among others. Read more of this post

LOS ANGELES — Many hockey fans in the Los Angeles area have at least heard of Rogie Vachon. They may know that he was the best goaltender ever to wear the jersey of the Los Angeles Kings. But few know of his accomplishments with the Kings and with the Montreal Canadiens prior to his arrival in Southern California.

Even fewer know that Vachon’s accomplishments rank him among the greatest goaltenders to have ever played the game, yet he continues to be denied the honor of being inducted into the hallowed halls of the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF).

MONTEREY PARK, CA — Whether you played the game at any level or are just a spectator, if you truck the kids to hockey practice very early in the morning or just lie on the living room couch and watch games on television, just about everyone touched by the game has a hockey dream or two.

In Living The Hockey Dream, author Brian Kennedy, Ph.D., a native of Montreal, an Associate Professor of English at Pasadena City College and a freelance hockey writer who covers the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks for Inside Hockey, explores the hockey dreams—realized or not—of people involved with the game at all levels and all walks of life.

COMMENTARY: On October 26, Montreal Gazette writer Dave Stubbs wrote a story on former Los Angeles Kings goaltender Rogie Vachon, “Honour Overdue For Ex-Habs Goalie Vachon.” To provide more of a Los Angeles Kings angle to the Vachon story, I decided to spruce up, update and re-publish a story I wrote way back in March, 1998 about Vachon, who should have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame years ago, but remains on the outside looking in.

Rogie Vachon
Photo: LA Kings

LOS ANGELES — Compared to many of today’s goalies who are six feet tall or more, former Los Angeles Kings’ superstar goalie Rogie Vachon is small by comparison, probably around 5-7 (I’m 5-9 and I am taller than Vachon). But despite his relatively small physical stature, Vachon’s place among National Hockey League goalies, past and present, looms large. Based on his performance throughout his sixteen-year NHL career, Vachon is clearly among the elite.

When you look closely at the numbers, Vachon certainly deserves to be enshrined among his peers. No one can deny that he was one of the great goalies to ever play the game. Consider that:

In 1998, Vachon was fifth all-time in career wins with 355. Only Glenn Hall (407), Tony Esposito (423), Jacques Plante (434) and former Kings’ goalie Terry Sawchuk (447) had more (all are honored members of the HHOF). Twelve HHOF goalies had Read more of this post

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